Wouldn't Want It Any Other Way
by Numb3rsfan
Summary: Bo protects Luke from schoolyard bullies.


**The Dukes of Hazzard**

**Title: Wouldn't Want It Any Other Way**

**Author: Numb3rsfan**

**Rating: PG**

**Warnings: None**

**Author's Notes: The title 'Wouldn't Want It Any Other Way' was originally taken from John Schneider's song 'Wouldn't Want It Any Other Way.' Also, this story is dedicated to John Schneider.**

**Disclaimer: The Dukes of Hazzard is owned and operated by Warner Brothers, and A Lou Step. No copywrite violation was intended in the making of this story.**

**Summary: Bo protects Luke from some schoolyard bullies.**

It was a quiet, fall afternoon in Hazzard County. The leaves were starting to change colors, and the weather was just beginning to change as well.

Instead of short sleeved shirts, the children in Hazzard were beginning to wear wind breakers and leather jackets to keep them warm.

Outside Hazzard Middle School, everything was quiet and still, until the school bell rang. Seconds later, the front doors of the school burst open and hundreds of kids gushed forth, out into the outside world.

Half of the kid's headed for the playground, while the other half headed for the streets, and their own homes.

All of the kid's had smiles on their faces, because it was the beginning of their fall break. School would be out for more than the allotted time, because the ever popular, not to mention greedy owner of almost every building in town, Mr. J.D. Hogg, was closing the school down for some renovations...or so he had said. Who knows the real reason why Boss Hogg was closing the school!

However, one child did not have a smile on his face. His face was downcast as he stared at the ground, while he began to make his slow trek back home.

The boy's short, blond hair blew in the semi chilly wind, making him shiver slightly and hug himself tightly.

The child's name was Bo Duke, and he was having some serious thoughts about his relationship with with older cousin, Luke.

For the past several months, Luke had treated Bo like he barely even existed, but only two weeks ago, that had started to change...for the worst!

Luke had started to play 'harmless' tricks on Bo, that usually left the twelve year old in tears.

When questioned by their uncle, Luke would always come up with some lame excuse to explain Bo's behavior, and Jesse would seem to buy it.

Every day it seemed, Luke would play some sort of trick on Bo. Anything ranging from shaving cream pies in the face, to loosening the screws on Bo's bed, to make it fall apart when Bo flopped down on it.

Bo was getting sick of this treatment, but he didn't know how to talk to his cousin...or his uncle for that matter.

If Bo didn't say what he meant to his Uncle Jesse, then the Duke patriarch would just make light of his concerns, telling Bo that Luke was just going through a faze.

_'Faze my foot!'_ Bo thought as he kicked a pecan that was on the side of the road.

The pecan flew across the road to bounce off a tree, before rolling to a stop on the edge of the concrete road.

Bo's thoughts were broken as he approached the High School and saw his older cousin, Luke right in the middle of a circle of older students.

To Bo, it looked like Luke was the one getting picked on, and for that, Bo was slightly glad.

_'Have em' get a taste of his own medicene!'_ Bo thought smuggly as he watched one of the older boys shove Luke to the ground, hard.

However, Bo's grin fell off his face when he saw the boy who had shoved Luke to the ground, rear back and kick the oldest Duke boy in the chest!

Bo watched in horror as Luke wrapped his arms around his side in pain, as all of the boy's had at him. Kicking and punching him for all they were worth.

Knowing that Luke couldn't hold on much longer, Bo took off and dropped his backpack before he looked down at the ground, looking for something he could throw at the boys who were beating his cousin.

In the back of Bo's mind, he really didn't know why he was so hot to trot to help his cousin, when Luke kept picking on him, but Bo reasoned that the men who were kicking his cousin meant buisness, and had to be stopped.

Seeing a rock, Bo grabbed it and loaded it into his small slingshot that he had made last year, with a little help from his Uncle Jesse.

Bo grabbed the elastic band and stretched it as he aimed for the boy who had attacked Luke in the first place.

Shutting his eye, Bo steadied his aim and fired his rock.

The rock sailed through the air, straight towards the group of boys, hitting one of them on the side of his face!

"YEOW, WHAT THE...?!" The nineteen year old said as he turned around and put a hand to his bleeding head.

What the nineteen year old saw made his jaw drop. Right infront of him was twelve year old Bo Duke, holding a loaded slingshot on him and his gang.

"Well, well. What have we here?" The boy said as he dropped his blood covered hand and signaled for his group to surround Bo, which they did with a grand flourish.

Gulping, Bo stood his ground, never showing his fear, at least not to these jerks who had dared to hurt his cousin.

The nineteen year old whom Bo had hit, snaked out his right hand and hit Bo on the back of his head, knocking Bo off his feet and on to the ground.

"Didn't yer momma an' daddy ever tell you, it ain't nice to hurt someone?" The boy asked as he reared back, preparing to kick the twelve year old Duke in to the middle of next week.

"Perhaps you should take yer own advice!" Bo shot back as he rolled away from the group as fast as he could.

When he hit the legs of one of the other boys, Bo stopped rolling and crawled out of the circle, before he quickly got up and literally kicked one of the boy's in the butt.

The eighteen year old fell forward in to one of his friends, who not being ready to recieve the boy's weight, fell to the ground with his friend on top of him!

Bo smiled as he surveyed his handy work, but that smile was wiped off his face when he saw the nineteen year old boy reach in to his pocket and withdraw a fairly big pocketknife.

"I don't like complications!" The nineteen year old said as he began to stalk toward's Bo, murder apparent in his eyes.

Bo gave an 'I'm so dead' smile to the nineteen year old, before he said, "Well uh..it's been fun but...I'd better be goin'!"

With that, he turned and dashed off, in to the high school building, with the nineteen year old on his heels.

"Come back here ya little...!" The nineteen year old said as he shoved students and teachers out of his way as he chased after the little runt who had humiliated him and his gang, outside of the school.

Turning a corner, Bo ran down a long hallway and burst through the doors leading to the cafeteria, where several ladies were busy cleaning up after the food fight that had taken place at lunch time.

Bo had just reached the middle of the room when the nineteen year old bully from hell burst through the doors as well. The knife still clutched firmly in his hands.

Looking around, Bo saw a boy outside the nearest window of the school, doing tricks on his skateboard.

As quickly as he could, Bo dashed to the window and leaned out of it.

"Hey mister! Can I borrow yer skateboard?" Bo asked the eighteen year old, who looked up at him in suprise.

Reaching down, the eighteen year old picked up his skateboard and handed it through the window, to Bo.

"Thanks, I'll give it back, as soon as I can!" Bo replied as he dropped it on to the cafeteria ground.

Looking up, Bo saw that the bully was nearing his location, so taking a deep breath, Bo placed one foot on the skateboard and pushed off.

At first it was hard to keep his balance, but with the threat of spending the next few weeks in a hospital bed, Bo learned to get really good, really fast!

Looking back, Bo didn't see the bully behind him, but when Bo looked front again, he saw the bully directly ahead. With nowhere left to go, Bo looked to the right and saw a small, sort of make-shift ramp up ahead, leading to the very top of the tables.

Having no other choice, Bo took the ramp, and soon he was on top of the school luncheon tables, doing his darndest to keep his balance and avoid the nineteen year old bully.

Smiling, the bully stood in a gap where one of the tables had been. He quickly leaned forward, trying to anticipate Bo's next move.

Gulping, Bo shut his eyes and at the last second, he lept in to the air, sailing over the bully's head!

The air rushed through his hair as Bo came down on the skateboard, on the other side of the gap.

Reaching the end of the tables, Bo jumped off them and caught the skateboard as he turned around, a smug smile on his face.

Seeing the angry look on the teen's face, Bo chuckled, before he ran out the doors of the cafeteria.

Running back down the long hall, Bo turned to the left and took the set of stairs all the way to the very top.

Bursting through the doors, on to the roof, Bo skidded to a halt and looked for somewhere to go.

_'Uh oh...wrong turn.'_ He thought as he faught to catch his breath.

Turning around, Bo was just about to run back to the stairs when the door burst open to reveal the nineteen year old bully, with his knife still in hand.

"Well, well. Caught like a mouse in a trap." The bully said gleefully as he approached the twelve year old, causing him to keep backing up until he was at the very edge of the roof.

Cautiously, Bo looked over his shoulder and down to the pavement where he could see several teachers and two paramedics tending to his cousin, who was looking up at him.

"You should'a just left well enough alone, boy! But you just had to step in and be a hero." The nineteen year old said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

Reaching out, the bully grabbed Bo's shirt collar and lifted him up off of his feet, dangling him over the side of the building.

Screams and gasps filled the air down below, as students and teachers alike were shocked at the behavior of their star football player.

"Got any last words...short stuff?" The bully asked as he raised the struggling Duke boy higher in to the air, preparing to drop him to the ground.

"Yeah. Did you know that you have a spider on your shoulder?" Bo asked as his blue eyes fixed on the tarantula that had crawled up the bully's pant leg when he had first grabbed on to Bo.

Out of habit, the boy looked at his shoulder and completly freaked out when he saw the spider!

As quickly as he could, he let go of Bo and started trying to bat the tarantula off of his shoulder.

The tarantula, however, wouldn't be moved. He just sat there on the boy's shoulder, enjoying the teen's screams for help.

Unable to get the spider off, the teen quickly took off his coat and threw it down to the ground before he dashed back inside the school, screaming bloody murder at the top of his lungs.

By that time, Bo was still clinging to the very edge of the building, trying his hardest to pull himself up.

Gritting his teeth, Bo tried once more, but his hand slipped, skinning the very palm of his hand.

Now with only one hand holding on to the building, Bo finally admitted that he was terrified.

Not knowning what else to do, Bo was just about to let go of the building, when he felt a hand clamp on to his wrist.

Looking up, Bo saw his cousin leaning over the side of the building, with both of his strong arms holding on to Bo's arm, preventing him from falling.

"Hang on Bo. I'll have ya up in a second." Luke said as he gritted his teeth and pulled with all his might.

Slowly, Bo started to rise up, and soon, Bo was able to clamp his second hand on to the top of the building, and to help haul himself back over the side, to collapse on to the roof of the high school.

When he was safe, Bo allowed himself to break down and start shaking with fear and disbelief at what he had done. He had just challenged and beaten the worst gang in the whole history of the high school, and had lived!

Luke looked over at his cousin, seeing Bo's slightly shocky features.

Raising a hand, Luke shook Bo's shoulder, trying to snap him out of it.

"Bo, are you alright?" Luke asked as he kept a sharp eye on his baby cousin, waiting for him to snap back to reality.

Finally, after several minutes, Bo blinked and turned slightly frightened eyes to Luke.

"Bo it's alright. Yer safe." Luke said as he drew his baby cousin in for a hug.

Once safe in Luke's arms, Bo settled down enough that he stopped shaking and could speak in a clear voice, even though it shook from time to time.

"I jus' can't believe I did that." Bo said, gesturing to the jacket that was still on the ground.

Luke chuckled as he also looked at the jacket. "I couldn't believe ya did that either! But, I gotta ask...why did ya do it?"

Bo looked up at his cousin, with his blue eyes shining as he said, "I did it because I didn't want ya to get hurt. You mean alot to me Luke...even if you do scare the livin' daylights out'a me every day. I also did it because we're a family...an' families stick out fer each other."

Luke smiled and gave Bo another hug before he and his cousin stood up off of the ground and made their way back inside the school.

"I guess...I really haven't been treatin' ya well." Luke said as they made their way down the stairs, and to the front doors of the school.

Bo shot his cousin a look, but didn't reply to the question right away because Bo had to get checked out by the paramedics who were still on the scene.

Once he was checked out, he and Luke started the two mile hike towards the farm.

During the walk, Bo thought about what Luke had said.

"It's true. Ya don't treat me that well, but, it's better than ya ignoring me...like ya had been doing." Bo said as he looked up at his cousin with a small smile on his face.

"Well, believe me I'll work on changin' that. Yer important to me Bo. I know I don't act like I do, but I really do care for you." Luke replied, laying a hand on Bo's shoulder as they turned on to the grassy path that led up to the house.

"Believe me Luke, I wouldn't want it any other way." Bo said as he and his cousin walked, side-by-side up the small set of stairs on to the porch, and in to the farmhouse, where their Uncle Jesse had two cups of hot chocolate waiting for them.

THE END


End file.
